Shadow Education. A Boon or Bane?

Shadow education, a widely used term to denote the private supplementary tutoring that mimics the school curriculum. The business of Shadow Education is booming with the rise of competition in the education field. Everybody wants good grades and to be in the top notch. The high cut off marks for admission in any school or college and the tough competitive exams have paved the way for the rise of private tutoring sector. It has become the mindset of people that the schools and colleges do not provide the much-needed knowledge for getting good grades. The shadow education establishments cater to this aspect very well by supplementing schoolwork and providing that extra knowledge and practice. It has become a trend to join the coaching or private tuitions to fare well in the exams, which has provided them with an ever-growing customer base.

However, like with anything else that exists in this world, this also has its advantages and disadvantages. They are as under,

Advantages

Student to teacher ratio– In schools and colleges the student to teacher ratio is very high. But the private institutions follow a batch system to ensure that the student to teacher ratio is low and that every student is attended and catered to.

Good Quality – Since these institutions link the teacher’s salary to the student performance and results, it is seen that the results are usually better than that of the school. The salary and incentive of the teachers are high, so good professors and teachers generally join hands with these institutes. All this ensures that best teacher is appointed and they deliver the best to the students.

Innovative and tech friendly – The private sectors use innovative and new techniques to teach the students. They use new technology in teaching with new techniques. They use technology for constant administration of the student progress, taking regular tests and exhaustive practice of the courseware. They provide e-notes and content like theanswer key of NCERT booksto make things easier for the students.

Student counseling – They have student counselors who regularly check the progress of the students and counsel and motivate them to do better.

Disadvantages

Minting Machines – They usually have very high fees that they charge from the students. With their increasing demand, the fee structure also gets raised. This creates a financial burden on the parents of the students joining these institutions. It also creates inequality as the rich students get to study while the poor ones cannot because of the high fees.

Stress – These increase the mental as well as physical stress levels of the students. The long hour of tuitions after the school/college makes the students tired and stressed. Loads of homework, tests, assignments etc. creates mental and physical fatigue amongst the students.

All work and no play – These tuitions rob the children of their spare time. Students rush to these institutes after the school/colleges. They even have classes on weekends. There is no time for child to play or engage in some extracurricular activities.

Quality at a cost – The high salaries paid to the teachers in these institutes, lure teachers away from the primary education centers. This creates a systemic imbalance since the schools – both privately run, but monitored by the state government as well as the government run schools, have to deal with the attrition problem of teachers, which in turn contributes in reducing the quality of study at the schools. Therefore, students find the need and parents comply for being a consumer of the Shadow Education industry.